This invention relates to beverage packaging machines of the type disclosed in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/118,111, the specification of which is incorporated herein by reference for purposes of providing background information. In general, such machines include a plurality of spaced guide rails that form a plurality of lanes. Beverage containers to be packaged are moved into the lanes and herded thereby toward a packaging mechanism of the machine, where the containers are grouped by moving spaced selector wedges and inserted into waiting cartons. While the specific operating details of such machines can vary greatly, most such machines includes these guide rails, lanes, and selector wedges for herding, directing, and grouping the beverage containers.
In one specific type of beverage container packaging machine, containers such as cans or bottles are moved along in mass on a wide conveyer belt until they encounter the ends of an array of spaced guide rails forming lanes for the containers. The containers enter the lanes, which herd the containers laterally relative to the conveyor toward a packaging mechanism located to the side of the conveyor. As the containers are herded off of the edge of the conveyor, they move, still in the lanes, onto a fixed or possibly a moving surface across which they continue to move until they engage a set of moving selector wedges, which group the containers for subsequent insertion into cartons.
The selector wedges have angled ends that engage the cans in the lanes and progressively part them into appropriate sized groups. During normal operation of the packaging machine, containers that move off of the conveyor and onto the fixed or moving surface continue to be pushed along within their lanes by the force of the many containers still on the conveyor behind them. This force presses the leading containers positively and firmly against the ends of the selector wedges, which is a necessary condition for proper operation of the wedges. In this way, containers are naturally compacted and held firmly against the selector wedges, which capture the containers, part them, and physically move them along within their lanes until they are inserted into their respective cartons.
Such beverage container packaging machines tend to exhibit a problem at the end of a packaging operation when the last of the beverage containers move through the lanes defined by the spaced guide rails. Specifically, as the last of the containers move through the lanes and off of the conveyor, fewer and fewer containers remain on the conveyor. Eventually, the force of the few trailing containers still on the conveyor is insufficient to push and hold the leading containers firmly against the selector wedges. As a result, the last few containers are not picked up by the selector wedges and so become stuck in their lanes in the region between the conveyor and the selector wedges. These containers must be removed prior to a subsequent packaging operation.
In most instances, the particular region of the machine in which the containers become stuck is not easily accessible since it is surrounded by other operational elements of the machine. Accordingly, manual clearing of the excess beverage cans usually is a major undertaking, requiring substantial time and the efforts of one or more highly paid operators. In many cases, it has been necessary to remove elements of the packaging machine itself to gain access to the stuck containers for manual removal.
Clearly, there exists a continuing and heretofore unaddressed need for an efficient method of clearing excess beverage containers from a beverage container packaging machine at the end of a packaging operation. Such a method should be quick, require a minimum of effort on the part of machine operators, and should function reliably without removal of machine elements or insertion into the machine of auxiliary clearing apparatuses. It is to the provision of such a method that the present invention is primarily directed.